Dapol announce O Gauge Class 66

[Atso]

1 hour ago, Adam1701D said:

I am really sorry about the delay to the O Gauge 66, which is partially my fault, taking over the project half way through. The first EP unfortunately contained a number of errors, which has meant a complete retool.

 

We are making a number of improvements, including backing to the engine room grilles with lighting, smoke  and DCC sound provision. The new EPs should be ready in a couple of months and the artworks are all done and ready to go.

 

The 66 is the biggest loco we have ever tackled and will be well worth the wait. Please keep the faith!

 

As the other person that had to make the difficult decision to redesign and retool alongside Adam, I can only echo his comments.

 

However, I feel that he is being very modest about the amount of work he has done to be able to get to the point where where we are now expecting the new EP.

 

While my own direct involvement with this particular project ended last year, we both greatly appreciate the disappointment our decision to delay may have caused but we are both confident that a better model will be the result.

 

Many thanks for your continuing patience.

 

Steve Da Costa

Development Manager, Dapol

 

Edit: Just to clarify (in case of confusion) that Richard is still with Dapol and is now overall Development Director of our expanded team.

Edited March 21 by Atso

[PaulRhB]

3 hours ago, pylonman said:

 

I did really want one, but not at any lack of what could be called customer service.

 

 

To be fair lack of communication yes but that’s nothing new as their policy is to only update when there is another stage complete. 
Their customer service on produced models has actually been rather good the couple of times I’ve had to use it. 

 

3 hours ago, pylonman said:

Why have we got 4 years "down the line" and there's suddenly a major re-design required ?

Because a lot of us pointed out errors when the EP was in the cabinet at shows. A couple of guys who drive them were having a detailed conversation with them on the stand at Warley. They made errors and are correcting them. Other locos like some of the earlier Heljan ones came out with the faults and we end up waiting to see if they will correct it. 

 

 

3 hours ago, pylonman said:

Where does the comment "built one from the old RJH kit" come from ?  I never mentioned it.

In its full context 

4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

or built one from the old RJH kit?

Which is the only other option I know of to the rtr one proposed. 
 

I get it’s frustrating waiting but there is another option, it’s dated, or scratchbuild. 

[PhilMortimer]

And to be fair, it was mentioned by Dapol some time Back (in the mists of time) that the model was being retooled. At the end of the day, they want to sell models and are not holding things up for the hell of it. It's sometimes hard to go back and redo things, but if it results in a better product (and a product that sells and keeps on selling), we are all the better for it. I respect the decision that was taken, as I'm sure it was a hard one. Dapol will have a lot of money tied up in the development of this model and the greater the development time, the longer it is before that money can be realized in sales. So I'm sure they want it out the door and bringing in cash. But one can just imagine the howling that would result if the model was released with known faults.

 

Yes, communication could be better at times, but the world is not going to end if its delayed.

 

 

[Revolution Mike B]

I find it really odd that people don’t understand why it’s better to call a halt to a project and correct any errors, but instead would be happy to have a model that’s completely incorrect? 
 

just stop and think about this for a minute. Dapol have sunk a fair amount of money into tooling - we’ve seen that as they’ve already shown an EP sample. However, as mentioned by a few people, it was quite far off the mark to even come close to how it should be. Rightly, they decided it was far better to offer a model that wasn’t riddled with errors.

 

As for cancelling pre orders, I find this even more baffling. It’s not a hardship to sit on a pre order, and it’s not as though there’s an abundance of ready to run, O Gauge Sheds being offered by alternative manufacturers! 
 

And one final point. If there’s nothing to update, then there’s no need for an update. When they have something to announce, they’ll do it. That’s nothing to do with customer service…..that’s common sense! 

[J. S. Bach]

43 minutes ago, Revolution Mike B said:

 ...snip... As for cancelling pre orders, I find this even more baffling. It’s not a hardship to sit on a pre order, and it’s not as though there’s an abundance of ready to run, O Gauge Sheds being offered by alternative manufacturers! ...snip...

First, my pre-order was cancelled by Hatton's closing although I probably would have cancelled anyway. However, one other reason was the fact that nothing has been said about what effect this re-tooling "delay" will have on the pre-order prices. That matters to me.

[PaulRhB]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

However, one other reason was the fact that nothing has been said about what effect this re-tooling "delay" will have on the pre-order prices. That matters to me.

That is unfortunate but most shops have caveat in the small print that if the price changes they will give you the opportunity to cancel so none are guaranteed. 
My APT pre order with Hattons was cancelled when Hornby dumped them in tier 4 and cancelled their orders. Hattons never told me and replied to an email that they would send me a letter as I didn’t subscribe to the newsletter to find out. They didn’t bother to do that either, so I ended up having to order direct from Hornby at a higher pre order price as everyone else was sold out. Then Hornby raised the price to everyone else so I paid the same in the end. 
So raising the prices happens over short timescales too and is actually pretty common, I can think of three models where prices rose but I still bought it as I wanted the model. As with the 66 at least sometimes they add extra features and it’s still significantly less than Heljan’s new releases but looks to be going to be inline with the sale prices they go for. 
I’d love to have it sat at the head of my CDA rake but I’d rather it was as close to right as possible than sitting there niggling me with errors and then the irritation that it was retooled and corrected in the second release. 
We’ve waited 3-4 years for several locos from Bachmann, Heljan and Hornby too and like the APT they then sometimes release the first edition with a host of faults, capacitors, couplings, no second powered car for one set and suppressors that blew holes in the roof! Do we really want that to catch on?
Yeah it’s a little irritating but patience is in short supply everywhere these days and if you really want an O gauge 66 where else are you going to get one in the next 5-10 years?

 

 

Edited March 22 by PaulRhB
Correcting autocorrect

[njee20]

On 21/03/2024 at 10:19, pylonman said:

 

I did really want one, but not at any lack of what could be called customer service.

 

Why have we got 4 years "down the line" and there's suddenly a major re-design required ?

 

Where does the comment "built one from the old RJH kit" come from ?  I never mentioned it.

What do you think "customer service" means in this context? Delivering the item regardless to meet a completely arbitrary timeline specified with the best of intentions years in advance? Or... delivering the best product they can in the timeline they can accomplish? We certainly have different definitions of customer service given yours appears to be the former. The reason a redesign was required was because new people joined the organisation who no doubt had to lobby for the improvements.

 

I'll add my name to the list who applaud Dapol for going back to the drawing board (literally) on the 66. I'd rather have the best product; I've every faith that Adam (and Steve, who I didn't even know was a part of Dapol!) will have done good things to the model, and we as consumers will benefit from that. I can wait an indefinite time for my toy trains, but thanks for announcing that you're disatisfied, I will carry that information with me.

[Hal Nail]

In a bid to move sideways, if not forwards, what exactly are the benefits of pre-ordering in 7mm anyway?

 

Apart from the class 50, which was rerun immediately anyway, I've never known anything in this scale sell out. And since even Rails have the odd 5% off sale on top of their usual discounts, you are virtually guaranteed to pay more by pre-ordering than you might otherwise.

 

Genuine question!

 

edit: I assume it isn't that once you place an order you can forget about it until it arrives :)

Edited March 22 by Hal Nail

[PaulRhB]

2 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

what exactly are the benefits of pre-ordering in 7mm anyway?

Knowing you will get it if there is a rush, barring shops shutting down, containers washing away etc